Research Guides: First Year Seminars: FYS 193 Science Fiction

The Research Process

Starting Your Search: MUSCAT Plus

MUSCAT Plus This link opens in a new window
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.

Databases - A-Z
An A-Z listing of all library databases by name or type of database (newspapers, images, etc.)
Research Guides
Research guides to databases and other resources for each discipline at Gettysburg College

Additional Research Tools

1. Choose a database to start your search! Here are a few suggested databases to get started:

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, and dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Over 6,000 journals and series, plus 1,200 book publishers, are indexed. Articles date from 1926-present.
Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts for nearly 560 journals plus cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for 270 journals. Contains more than 160 full-text journals and over 160 full-text books. Access Variety movie reviews dating back to 1914. Includes more than 63,000 images from the MPTV Image Archive.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.
Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to databases covering the international literature in the social sciences, including politics, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology and education. Featured databases include PAIS and Sociological Abstracts. Includes full text from over 500 social science journals.

2. Use relevant keywords to start searching. One strategy for beginning a search is to start broad and then add additional keywords and/or use limitation options in the database (limit by publication date, source type, etc.) to narrow your search. Also, peruse the subject headings assigned to sources and use those terms to further refine your search.

3. Get the full-text of the article. Many databases will have the full-text of the article (linked as a pdf) in the source record. If the full-text is not provided, look for the "Gett It" button to find it in another library resource. Lastly, if the full-text is not available in the database you're using or elsewhere in the library collection, request a copy via Interlibrary Loan.

Evaluate Information Sources

Evaluating Sources

Think critically about information sources that you use. Here are a few things to consider when evaluating sources…

Who wrote it and why?

What qualifies the author(s) to write about the topic?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the purpose -- to inform / entertain / persuade / summarize / report new findings?
What is the context in which it was written?

How does it support your research question?

What do you know now that you didn’t know before reading it?
What does the source argue or demonstrate that none of your other sources do?
What questions remain or what new questions are raised when considering the information?

What makes it reliable?

What evidence did the author use to support his/her claims?
Have other people cited or referenced it?
How might someone dismiss it?
Who had to approve or review it before it could be published?

First Year Seminars: FYS 193 Science Fiction

Zotero

Citation Help

Need Help? Ask Me!

What When Who

The Research Process

Starting Your Search: MUSCAT Plus

Additional Research Tools

Evaluate Information Sources